June 2016

What to expect from a mainstream publisher

Publishers all want a blockbuster, preferably last week, preferably written by one of their “stable” of authors with a cast-iron reputation for producing best sellers.

Large publishers, especially, are very concerned about maintaining their market share, so, despite their size and their apparent diversity (which might make you believe they have room for your offering) they tend to be risk averse, and, in some ways, we have to feel a bit sorry for them.

The global reach of traditional, international publishers makes them expensive to maintain, so their creative hunches are constantly being held back, overtaken by defensive thinking which leaves them at the mercy of such questions as, “Do you think Tesco/Walmart/WH Smith will stock this book?” Alternatively, if they are sympathetic, they may ask, “Can we make this a best seller?” which, since they are risk averse, will usually yield the reply, “No, sorry, we don’t think so.”

It tends to be the smaller publishers, with their lower overheads, that can afford to be more flexible. They can move faster, less hampered by nightmares about their wages bill. It must be hellish being a commissioning editor for a large publisher.

Commissioning editors are extremely busy. If we have dealings with them, we can expect them to contact us when they need something.  Because face-to-face contact is rare these days, I find it extremely important to write clearly. A minimal, direct communication style reduces the chances of misunderstandings. I have learned that it helps to have the courage to state exactly what I prefer, and if I am unsure, to sleep on it and return to the question the next day.

Again, when I have sent something, or returned a draft, I do not expect an acknowledgement. Unless an editor happens to be at their desk, and happens to have a moment between calls, s/he will not have occasion to send a ‘thank you’. As with submissions, I have learned to live with the benign assumption that everything I send is received and properly considered.

An editor is a professional who has probably reviewed and produced more manuscripts than I have had hot suppers. If I may make a driver’s analogy, as a total beginner, I will be proceeding cautiously at twenty-five miles an hour along a familiar route through town. An editor will be whizzing along the highway at top speeds.

Thanks for reading.

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What to expect from an agent

It is a good idea to always check, before we sign on the dotted line what to expect from an agent.

Naturally, it feels a bit intimidating to enquire, ‘…Um, what exactly does this phrase in your contract cover?’  But, if it’s any comfort, they will really not mind the question, and would rather talk about the limits of their usual tasks early, than have to deal with a shortfall in our expectations later.  I know I didn’t feel like being business-like when Isabel agreed to take me on – I was just so happy!  But it would have helped us both if I had known firstly, what questions to ask, and secondly, that Isabel would have been more than happy to answer them.

The primary job of an agent is to find a buyer for the manuscripts they agree to represent from the shrinking number of presses available.  So, we have to assume they will do their very best with that.  My agent pulled off a miracle.  But what else might we expect?  If they achieve that, and keep your account ticking over, it is a very big deal.  Thank you, Isabel.

As a rule, literary agents do:

• Try to place manuscripts.  This is not guaranteed.

• Collect sales income and disburse accounts six monthly in arrears.  This is standard industry practice.

• Keep in touch with publishers and publishing trends as much as they can

• Get busier all the time.

As a rule, most agents do not:

• Check syntax, grammar or spelling, though they may suggest changes, if they feel strongly about them.  Syntax and grammar should all have been gone into before, and hopefully, all the different views you have canvassed will help with that.

• Suggest or promote publicity or arrange readings, signings, interviews and opportunities.  These are most often handled by agencies which specialise in marketing and promotion.

• Always accept second or later manuscripts.

Agents may send out pitches to select publishers, asking for notes of interest to be submitted by a certain date and time (“Noon, on the 5^th of February”).  Thus, all bids received at around the same time can be compared.  Most communication is done electronically, though if an agent has a good working relationship with a particular publisher, s/he may be invited to pitch in person.  (It is truly awesome to consider that someone likes our work enough to want to go to such lengths, especially if you are new to sales and find public platforms a little intimidating.)  But most agents will enjoy that part of selling.

If your agent needs something from you, they will let you know.  Expect them to be in touch and take the hint when they contact you.  If an agent introduces you to your commissioning editor, drop the CE a line thanking them for commissioning your work.  They will appreciate it.

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What agents can do for us

Just because we have secured the services of an agent, does not mean s/he will manage to sell our work to a commissioning editor.

Most agents are good sales people, confident, very capable and ahead of the field.  If they cannot secure a sale, it does not mean they have failed, or that we have failed.  It only means it is not the right time or place.  Agents will hold on to material they like, and keep trying for it, if they believe in it enough.  If they spot an opportunity, they will make the most of it, since that is what they do for a living.

Find something else to do in the meantime, or the waiting to hear whether your book has found a publisher will drive you slowly crazy.  Get out into the real world, relax, write another book, visit friends, go for a job interview, but don’t obsess about your book.  Let your agent do that.

At the start of any business or legal relationship, before we sign any contract or undertaking, it is essential that we are clear what services a particular agency provides – and, more importantly, those they do not.  When new writers think of agency services, we may assume these include not only securing a deal and collecting royalties, but also support for publicity and promotion, leads and so on.  But post-publication services such as these are more often offered by other agencies that specialise in marketing and promotion.

A writer new to the world of business, contracts and negotiation is very often living in a state of suspended belief, and most unlikely to put an agent offering their services through their paces with a series of searching questions….We have to take our chances where we can, and we cannot know all there is to know, before taking up business opportunities.  Even so, it pays to be aware of the limits of agency services, or else, what I call the ‘expectation gap’ can yawn wide, setting us up for disappointment.

Agents live by earning commission from sales to publishers.  Typically, their commission is 15% of any fees or royalties they negotiate on your behalf.  So, understanding that we are happy with an agent’s services, have we the confidence to trust them, and let them do their jobs in peace?  I do hope so.  If we want to help our agent, it is useful to deliver what they ask for as soon as we can, be clear and with our communications, and trust them to do their best.

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What has luck got to do with it?

In a word, everything.  I could have kept copies and lists of all my paper and on-line submissions, but in the end, I decided that would be too depressing and weigh me down; so I cannot give you an exact count the number of submissions I sent out; though by the time I had written round prospective publishers and agents, the total number must have been around sixty.  Luckily, I found my darling agent in the right place at the right time and on the lookout for a book like mine.  I call that lucky.  The success I had so long hoped for, came along -as is so often the case – when I least expected it.

Everyone can help luck to smile on them by researching the market with care.  It takes courage to send out submissions, but even so, we always have time to make sure that our enquiries are word perfect, grammatically accurate, polite and to the point.  There are always ways in which we can refine our searches, and be clear that we have made an attempt to assess whether our work and the agent we have in mind are a good match.

Are you thinking about trying your luck with the larger agencies?  Then find out who in the most likely agencies is looking for work of your genre and actively hoping to expand their lists.  Search for agents who are interested in new writers or emerging talent or for agents who are looking to build their lists.  Address your submission to them by name.

The Writers’ Workshop has a comprehensive list of agents which you can select from, according to your genre and preferences.  For example, you may want to search for small agencies who are looking for science fiction only, are interested in new writers and actively seeking manuscripts.  I found my agent by working through the list there; and I have found The Writers’ Workshop to be a mine of useful information and ideas, and their lists and articles are updated regularly.

The best of luck, and thanks for reading!

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Submission Habits

As I got into the habit of doing submissions, I would find that I worked best with a ‘cluster’ habit, sending out perhaps two, then waiting about ten days or a fortnight before attempting a fresh pair. If you find it easier to work more systematically, I suggest aiming to do three submissions a month, or one a week.

No matter what their published guidelines may indicate, no agency nowadays seriously expects us to submit to only one agency at a time. At that rate, with an average response time of two months for each submission, we would only manage about six submissions a year, and if our ambition only reaches that far, we are unlikely to progress, unless our research into each agency or publisher is exhaustive and encompasses meetings, working breakfasts, networking within the industry… If you have the contacts, lucky you.

Of course, we will never confess, “Yours is the seventh agency I have applied to today.” If an agent likes what we have sent, they will get back to us quickly. Meantime, simply do what feels most comfortable, and maintain a diplomatic silence. You, as much as the next person, have every right to see yourself as a professional running your own business, so don’t waste time with pangs of conscience. Keep it simple and keep your options open. Discretion is the key.

With fewer traditional avenues to explore, it becomes increasingly important to research our available options carefully. There is a considerable risk that we blow our chances by being too enthusiastic, too soon: it is a pity that, in the youth of our enthusiasm, we will feel a pressing need to send out our precious papers to our most promising leads far too early, before our writing has been tempered by experience. If you read no further, at least let me suggest that you should leave your most promising possibilities and matches for later. Wait at least a year – and in the meantime practise submitting – until you have what you believe is your best package. It is a rare agent or publisher who relishes the prospect of rejecting a manuscript twice.

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What is a Submission?

A submission is our sales package, which should be short, to the point and compelling, (though what makes compelling reading, is naturally subjective). If an agent asks for “the first three chapters or ten thousand words” this means, the first three chapters (up to ten thousand words). In that instance, we would send the first three chapters, or as much of the first three chapters as will take us to ten thousand words. Clue: Get your first three chapters into ten thousand words. Occasionally, a generous agent or publisher will ask for the first fifty pages. These have to be strong, convincing and impeccably written, as this will be our first and last chance to impress. Given that agencies receive hundreds of submissions each week, they are looking for any excuse to press the delete button.

The first element of a submission is our cover letter, which ideally will fit onto one page. Hopefully, it will contain an appealing taster of the story, plus some mention of our credentials and expertise as a writer.

The second element is our proposal, also called a synopsis, which is a fancy word for “summary of the entire plot” which will probably include a brief summary – a précis of the plot or subject matter in one or two sentences – plus a few longer paragraphs offering more details, and some indication of why it deserves the agent’s special attention. The synopsis summarises our work. It is a piece of writing that evolves as our work does, and may only resemble something passably business-like after many different reincarnations. We aim to fit everything pertinent that you wish to mention on one page of A4, double spaced; which works out at about three hundred words of text, plus headings.

Before we sit down to write anything, it pays to consider what else in the market our work compares with, any marketable advantages we perceive our work having, why it is unique and why we are uniquely qualified to write it. If we have any involvement in writers’ circles or on-line communities, hopefully we have been mulling these questions over for some time and can answer them fairly confidently. If not, perhaps we might leave aside doing submissions until we have a clearer idea of what particular flavours we can bring to the market. Knowing what our particular contribution is, informs our conviction.

It took me months to formulate a neat cover letter and a neat synopsis, and even now, there are some things I should probably mention and others I would be better to omit. I have received two rejection letters recently, so clearly, there are things I can work on. I did gain some very useful feedback, which I shall consider and incorporate.

The cover letter and synopsis are pieces of writing that evolve as our work does, and may only resemble something passably business-like after many different reincarnations. I take time to work at them, aiming again to fit everything pertinent I wish to mention on single pages of A4, double spaced; which works out at about three hundred words of text, plus headings.

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So! We’ve written most of our magnum opus and edited it until we are certain we can do no better. How long might it be before we can see some return on our investment of time, energy and resources? How long before we can nod our heads and say, ‘Yes, now I am a writer!’ The first time I heard the dreaded words, ‘ten years’ my mind refused to take them in, but that, indeed, is the timescale I am now looking at. I’m so glad to be nearing the end of one of the busiest and most rewarding decades of my life.

If when I first sat down to write, with only a grin and enthusiasm for company, someone had suggested that I would spend the best part of ten years coming to grips with the course I so blithely set, I would have run screaming in the opposite direction. Actually, I would probably have laughed incredulously and carried on. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

Realistically, from firing up our determination to forge a writing career and putting your ideas down on paper, to being published, we can be looking at anything from four to ten years. Yes, it does take years to find our voice, refine our writing and our style and get round to sending out submissions; and it can take more years to secure a publishing deal. On the plus side, this means we have plenty of time to perfect our work, and we can probably have several projects on the go at once, which helps to keep our interest fresh.

The down side, apart from the potential for becoming discouraged, is that having too many projects underway can dilute our determination. I prefer to work with no more than two projects at any one time, particularly when we are new to writing; perhaps that might be our strongest piece that we are currently writing, editing and refining, plus another project that we periodically reflect on, revise and add to as the mood takes us, and which we turn to for a change of scene.

My next few blog posts will be focussing on submissions. Thanks for reading!

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